


Finally a Happy End

by A_Lawliet



Category: Dead Poets Society (1989)
Genre: F/M, OC Story, Short, Short Chapters, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:40:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27687731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Lawliet/pseuds/A_Lawliet
Relationships: Neil/ Original Character(s)
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

As my father and me walk out of the car I look up at the huge building in front of me, Welton academy, the boys only school. But I guess now that’s about to change. I, Evangeline Keating, am the first girl to ever go to this school… thanks dad -_-

My dad is the new english teacher, and because he’d rather not have me go to a regular school, he took me with him. I follow my father into the crowd entering the school, first we got told there’d be an opening ceremony for the school, to introduce my father as the new teacher and me as the only female student.  
I walk down the steps to the chapel when I bump into someone.  
‘Ow sorry’, I say, looking at the person I’d bumped. There I see a boy from about my age looking at me. He has hazelbrown hair and deep brown eyes and, to be honest, he is rather handsome. He smiles at me: ‘No problem.’  
I smile back at him and then continue to follow my father. He leaves me in one of the seats and then goes to the front of the chapel and into the door to join the other teachers.

After a few minutes of sitting there quietly, and getting some weird looks from parents and boys, bagpipes begin to play loudly. I look behind me to see a small group of boys march into the room, down a set of stairs. I realize one of them is the one I’d bumped into.

The boys break off to either side at the front of the church and the bagpipes cease to play. The headmaster, mr. Nolan, walks over to the old man carrying the candle and announces: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, boys, the light of knowledge.’

An organ begins to play as the old man walks forward, with shaking hands, to the young boys in the front row. Each of the boy is holding a candle and I can see him bend over to light the first one. Each boy in turn lights the candle of the boy next to him.

‘One hundred years ago’, Mr. Nolan starts, ‘in 1859, 41 boys sat in this room and were asked the same question that greets you at the start of each semester. Gentlemen, what are the four pillars?’

Suddenly all of the uniformed boys rise up and state in unison: ‘Tradition, honor, discipline, excellence.’

Drilled and brainwashed to perfection, I think to myself. And when they sit back down I look back at the front to see my dad glancing my way, and I know that he knows what I’m thinking.

‘In her first year, Welton Academy graduated five students’, the principal continues, ‘Last year we graduated fifty-one. And more than seventy-five percent of those went on to the Ivy League.’ a round of polite applause starts before Mr Nolan proceeds, ‘This, this kind of accomplishment is the result of fervent dedication to the principles taught here. This is why you parents have been sending us your sons.’ and daughter, I think to myself, though I know quite well it isn’t the reason I was there, ‘This is why we are the best preparatory school in the United States.’ Once again Mr. Nolan stops his speech to soak up the applause from the audience.

‘As you know, our beloved Mr. Portius of the English department retired last term. You will have the opportunity later to meet his replacement, Mr. John Keating, himself a graduate of this school. And who, for the past several years, has been teaching at the highly regarded Chester School in London’, applause… again, ‘and lastly, we introduce miss Evangeline Keating, the daughter of Mr Keating, she will be joining the senior students this year.’

A couple of mumbles start throughout the chapel but it is cut short by Mr Nolan who concludes his speech with: ‘you’ll be able to meet her in class.’

With the ceremony concluded my father came to find me again. We go to the school grounds once again to get our luggage out of the car. As I walk outside I see the school lawn is a filled with luggage, students and parents mulling about in every direction.

‘I need to go to my own office now’, dad told me, ‘You have your room number?’ I nod, he hugs me and walks away. And when I eventually get there, close the door behind me and look around the room I see one bed, one bedside table, one desk, one closet, a couple of bookshelves on the wall, one window and bare walls. It wasn’t much but I could make it work.

I put my suitcase down on my bed and get ready to start unpacking when there is a knock on the door.

‘Come in’, I call out. The door opens to reveal the boy you’d bumped into in the hallway.

‘Hey, uh.. excuse my boldness but I thought, since you are new here, I could come along and introduce myself… I’m Neil, Neil Perry.’ I stick out my hand for him to shake, ‘I’m Evangeline Keating.’ He takes my hand and kisses the top of it, causing my cheeks to heat up. ‘The pleasure is mine’, he tells me. Then there is another knock on the door.

‘Miss Keating, this is mr Nolan, may I come in?’ Neil and I look at each other for a short moment of panic before Neil asks me in a whisper-y tone: ‘I’m sorry but may I use your closet to hide in’  
To which I confusedly reply: ‘Uhh, sure...’ And so he does, when the door is closed you call out ‘Come in’ to your new principal.

‘Hello, I just wanted to stop by to welcome, and warn you’, he said, getting straight to the point, ‘I would like you to remember to keep to the school rules as closely as possible, and I will not allow any distracting of the male students.’  
Really? I think, just what does he think I’m here to do? Just who does he think I am? But of course I didn’t say that, instead I smile politely and told him: ‘I assure you sir, I in no way would want to be a disturbance to any student or faculty.’  
‘Thanks you’, Mr Nolan nodded, ‘well then, I wish a good year. And ..uh, lunch is at 12am exactly.’ And with that he left and I knock on the door of my wardrobe, signaling to Neil that it’s safe to come out.

When he did, he chuckls quietly before leaning against my room door, ‘It’s day one and you already did something to call over the headmaster.’  
‘Yeah but I think that something is called ‘being a girl’.’  
He laughs at this, but then puts his hand up to rub his neck slightly nervously handing me a piece of paper: ‘So, um anyway, this is my roomnumber, I got to go get my suitcases now, so I’ll be there myself in a bit, feel free to stop by. I can introduce you to a couple of my friends.’  
‘Okay’, I say, smiling at the boy.


	2. Chapter 2

After I put my clothes in the wardrobe, I made my way over to Neil’s room. Upon entering the corridor I saw that it was mostly empty except for Neil and a man I assume to be his father. At first the man had a smile on his face but suddenly he grabs Neils arm and his smile disappears. I keep my distance but I can still hear what he’s saying: ‘Don't you ever dispute me in public. Do you understand?’  
‘Father’, Neil tries to object, ‘I wasn't disputing-’  
‘After you've finished medical school and you're on your own, then you can do as you damn well please’, Neil dad interrupts, ‘But until then, you do as I tell you. Is that clear?’  
‘Yes sir’, Neil whispers, looking down, ‘I'm sorry.’  
‘You know how much this means to your mother, don't you?’ he says in a now softer tone.  
‘Yes sir’, Neil forced a smile, ‘You know me, always taking on too much.’  
‘Well, that's my boy’, Mr. Perry says, slapping Neil on the shoulder, ‘Now listen, you need anything, you let us know, huh?’  
‘Yes sir’, Neil nods, with that Mr. Perry leaves. Neil leans his head back against the wall as some other boys emerge from the room.

‘Why doesn't he let you do what you want?’ one boy says.  
‘Yeah Neil’, another agrees, ‘tell him off. It couldn't get any worse.’  
‘Oh, that's rich’, Neil scoffs, ‘Like you guys tell your parents off, Mr. Future Lawyer and Mr. Future Banker.’  
‘Okay, so I don't like it any more than you do’, the first boy chuckles.  
‘Well just don't tell me how to talk to my father. You guys are the same way’, Neil answers.  
‘All right, all right, Jesus’, the second boy chuckles in defense. ‘So what are you going to do?’  
‘What I have to do’, Neil smiles sadly, ‘Drop the annual.’  
‘Well I wouldn't lose much sleep over it’, the first boy tells Neil, ‘It's just a bunch of jerks trying to impress Nolan.’  
‘I don't care. I don't give a damn about any of it’, Neil says, obviously lying, while I walk up to the group and tap Neil on the shoulder. Neil angered, slightly agitated, expression softens when he looks down at me. ‘Hey, you’re here.’  
‘Hey’, I smile at him, ‘what was dad about.’  
‘Ow’, Neil seems surprised that you heard, ‘with my dad… don’t worry about it.’ But I did, he seemed pretty upset just now, and I suppose it shows on my face cause Neil sighed, ‘I’ll tell you later, I promise.’ and I nod in agreement.  
‘So’, Neil says, changing the subject, ‘My friends, this is Knox Overstreet, Steven Meeks’, I shake hands with all of them while Neil tells me their names, ‘and Charlie Dalton.’  
‘Otherwise known as the man of your dreams’, I didn’t shake this ones hand, only rolled my eyes. This caused all the boys to laugh, and Charlie to look at me shocked.  
‘Well, uh, Latin, eight o' clock in my room?’ Meeks said after the laughter died down.  
‘Yes’, Neil confirmed.  
‘Todd, you're welcome to join us’, Meeks turned to a boy who was apparently Neils roommate.  
‘Yeah, come along pal’, Knox called out causing the boy to look up from his desk where he is setting his alarm clock.  
‘Thanks’, he says quietly.  
‘Evangeline’, Neil catches my attention by putting his hand on my upper back, ‘you can come along too.’  
‘I think I’m gonna have to pass this time, I’m going to continue unpacking’  
‘alright’, Neil said, somewhat disappointed, ‘can I come by after?’  
‘yeah sure’, I smile at him.

And that’s what he does. In the early evening, I hear a knock on my door. We both sit on my bed, with our backs against the headboard, and legs over the bed. Al the while Neil tells me about his father. I couldn’t tell you when or why, but at some point I simply leaned my head against his shoulder, leaning against him comfortable while he leaned his head on mine.  
‘So’, he says finally, ‘what did you think of him, my father?’  
I think for a minute before answering, ‘do you want an honest answer? Or a nice one?’  
this causes him to break out laughing.

The next morning, the clock bells chimes at 5 o’clock, I look out the window to see an enormous flocks of birds, apparently disturbed by the noise, take to the sky. The sound of squawking birds merges into the sound of noisy boys as they descend the stairs in a long spiraling line. Mr. McAllistor tries to make it upstairs against the steady stream.  
‘Slow down boys!’ the teacher yells, ‘slow down you horrible phalanx of pubescence.’

Given that we were in the same year, Neil and the guys shared the same classes as I did. We started the day of with chemistry, Neil took a seat next to me. A teacher walks up and down the aisles, handing out books.  
‘Pick three laboratory experiments from the project list and report on them every five weeks’, he states, ‘The first twenty questions at the end of chapter one are due tomorrow.’  
This caused all the students, including me, to let out a collective groan.

Next, we had Latin, Neil and I are seated on the same desk. Mr. McAllister paces back and forth in front of the blackboard and has us repeat everything back to him. ‘Agricolam. Agricola. Agricolae. Agricolarum. Agricolis. Agricolas. Agrilcolis. Again, please. Agricola.’

Math class was next. Dr. Hager walks up the classroom aisles with his arms behind his back.  
‘Your study of trigonometry requires absolute precision’, he states matter of fact, ‘Anyone failing to turn in any homework assignment will be penalized one point off their final grade. Let me urge you now not to test me on this point.’ I look at Neil, who sits to my right and give him a look of ‘Is he serious??’ Neil makes a face of ‘yes, unfortunately.’


	3. Chapter 3

Finally we enter dad’s classroom, the boys are talking and acting up. I can see dad glance out from his room off to one side of the classroom.  
‘Hey Spaz, Spaz.’, Knox calls out. The boy who was called Spaz turns around in time to be hit by a ball of crumpled up paper while Cameron smacks him on the shoulder.  
‘Brain damage’, Cameron mutters.  
But everyone quickly quiets down as dad emerges from the other room, whistling the, what I recognize to be 1812 Overture. He walks up the length of the classroom and out the door without a word, though he sends a wink my was as he passes me. The boys look around at one another, uncertain of what to do.  
‘What is happening’, Neil asks turning to me.  
‘Just wait’, I chuckle at him, at the same time dad pokes his head back in the doorway, ‘Well come on.’ He gestures us to follow and we, after some hesitation, grab our books and follow my father out into the main entranceway.

We see my dad stand before the school's trophy cabinets, waiting until all the boys arrive.  
‘"Oh Captain, My Captain"’, he says finally, ‘who knows where that comes from?’  
I can see Todd look up as if he knows the answer, but says nothing. Spaz blows his nose a little too close to Meeks for his liking, causing me to have to make an effort to muffle my chuckles. And apparently Neil noticed cause he gently nudged me before winking at me.

‘Not a clue?’, my father asks, ‘It's from a poem by Walt Whitman about Mr. Abraham Lincoln. Now in this class you can call me Mr. Keating. Or, if you're slightly more daring, Oh Captain, My Captain.’ this makes the class laugh slightly.  
‘Now let me dispel a few rumors so they don't fester into facts’, dad continues, ‘Yes, I too attended Hell-ton and survived. And no, at that time I was not the mental giant you see before you. I was the intellectual equivalent of a ninety-eight pound weakling. I would go to the beach and people would kick copies of Byron in my face.’ this makes the boys laugh once again, while Cameron, obviously trying to write all this down, looks around confusedly, making me laugh once again. Dad looks down at papers in his hand. Now, Mr… Pitts. That's a rather unfortunate name. Mr. Pitts, where are you?’ Pitts raises his hand, somewhat awkwardly, while everyone around him snickers.  
‘Mr. Pitts, would you open your hymnal to page 542 and read the first stanza of the poem you find there?’ Pitts obliges before looking up confused: ‘“To the virgins, to make much of time"?’  
‘Yes, that's the one’, he confirmed, ‘Somewhat appropriate, isn't it.’  
‘"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may’, Pitts read, ‘old time is still a flying, and this same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying."’  
‘Thank you Mr. Pitts. "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may." The Latin term for that sentiment is Carpe Diem. Now who knows what that means?’ Meeks immediately puts his hand up, ‘Carpe Diem. That's "seize the day."’  
‘Very good, Mr.-’  
‘Meeks.’  
‘Meeks. Another unusual name’, my father noted, ‘Seize the day. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. Why does the writer use these lines?’  
‘Because he's in a hurry’, Charlie jokes.  
‘No, ding!’dad slams his hand down on an imaginary buzzer, ‘Thank you for playing anyway. Because we are food for worms lads. Because, believe it or not, each and every one of us in this room is one day going to stop breathing, turn cold, and die.’ with that dad turns towards the trophy cases, filled with trophies, footballs, and team pictures.  
Now I would like you to step forward over here and peruse some of the faces from the past’, he continues, ‘You've walked past them many times. I don't think you've really looked at them.’  
The students slowly gather round the cases and dad moves behind them. ‘They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you. Their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because you see gentlmen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in.’ The boys and I lean in, I am vaguely aware of Neils head hovering over my shoulder.  
‘Carpe’, my father whispering in a gruff voice, ‘Hear it?’ dad says before returning to his gruff whisper, ‘Carpe. Carpe Diem. Seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.’  
I quietly look around me to see the boys stare at the faces in the cabinet in silence.

After class we all emerge from the school, loaded down with numerous books.  
‘That was weird’, Pitts says.  
‘But different.’ Neil defends.  
‘Spooky if you ask me’, Knox says before shooting me a look of instant regret, remembering the teacher is my father. I chuckle at him.  
‘Think he'll test us on that stuff?’ Cameron asks.  
‘Come on Cameron’, Charlie sighs, ‘don't you get anything?’  
‘What?’ Cameron questions, ‘What?’


	4. Chapter 4

Tonight I join the boys in study group. I sit next to Neil, I am vaguely aware of our shoulders touching. At the moment he was helping me with a part of the latin homework I didn’t get.  
Around the room, several students are throwing darts at a small rubber skeleton hanging from the bulletin board. Various students are studying and playing games. Meeks and Pitts are sitting at one table working on their "hi-fi system". Meeks is waving an antenna around with no luck. Pitts points out to him that he forgot to plug it in. Knox enters the room and closes the door behind him, leaning up against it heavily.  
‘How was dinner?’ Charlie asks.  
‘Huh?’ Knox turns his head.  
‘How was dinner?’ Charlie repeats.  
‘Terrible’, He sighs, ‘Awful.’  
He leaves the door and sits down with us at the table.  
‘Why?’ Charlie questions, ‘What happened?’  
‘Tonight, I met the most beautiful girl in my entire life’, Knox breathes.  
‘I’ll try not to be insulted...’ I joke  
‘nono, angie’, Knox states quickly, ‘you’re beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but she…’ Knox let out a rather dramatic sigh.  
‘wauw, you got it bad’, I laugh, he nods in agreement.

‘What's wrong with that?’ Neil asks after a moment.  
‘She's practically engaged’, Knox states, ‘To Chet Danburry.’  
‘That guy could eat a football’, Charlie mumbled.  
‘That's too bad’, Pitts agrees.  
‘Too bad?’ Knox repeats, ‘It's worse than too bad Pitsie, it's a tragedy. A girl this beautiful in love with such a jerk.’  
‘All the good ones go for jerks, you know that.’ Pitts states, before realizing, ‘Except for Angie of course,’ making me laugh.  
‘Ahh, forget her’, Cameron scoffs, ‘Open your trig book and try and figure out problem five.’  
‘I can't just forget her Cameron’, Knox sighs, ‘And I can't think about trig.’ at that moment the radio Meeks and Pitts were working on begins letting out a high pitched hum.  
‘We got it.’ ‘Holy cow.’ they quietly celebrated until Mr. Hager walks into the room, ‘All right everyone, five minutes. Let's go.’  
The students quickly pack up their gear and prepare to leave. Pitts tries to hide the radio in his lap. Neil leans in close to me: ‘hey, can I walk you back?’  
‘sure’, I smile at him, he returns the smile while taking my books.  
As we enter my corridor, he asks: ‘So, how do you like Hell-ton so far?’  
‘Never thought hell would be a place on earth’, I state matter-of-factly, making him laugh.  
When we reach my room, I opens the door and Neil places my books on the desk before leaning against the wardrobe.  
‘By the way’, he tells me, ‘I don’t believe what Knox said.’  
‘What?’  
‘I’m sure you are the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen’, he smiles, making me blush, ‘And especially cute whenever you wear those glasses.’ at this point I didn’t even wanna know how crimson red I blushed, because it only got worse when he leaned down kisses my cheek. And I’m sure he saw because his smile changed into a smirk, ‘good night, Evangeline.’  
‘good night, Neil.’

The next morning I was just putting my blazer on when there was a knock on the door. When I opened it, it was Neil. He told me Mr Nolan had requested he’d escort me to my classes. So that’s exactly what he did.  
In class, dad sits at his desk at the front of the classroom and opens up one of his books.  
Neil sits to my right in this class, Todd sits in front of me, and Knox behind me.  
‘Gentlemen… and lady, open your text to page twenty-one of the introduction. Mr. Perry, will you read the opening paragraph of the preface, entitled "Understanding Poetry"?’  
‘Understanding Poetry, by Dr. J. Evans Pritchard, Ph.D’, Neil reads, after putting on his glasses, I couldn’t help but notice how cute he looked with them on,

‘To fully understand poetry, we must first be fluent with its meter, rhyme, and figures of speech. Then ask two questions: One, how artfully has the objective of the poem been rendered, and two, how important is that objective. Question one rates the poem's perfection, question two rates its importance. And once these questions have been answered, determining a poem's greatest becomes a relatively simple matter.’ With that my father gets up from his desk and prepares to draw on the chalk board.  
‘If the poem's score for perfection is plotted along the horizontal of a graph, and its importance is plotted on the vertical, then calculating the total area of the poem yields the measure of its greatness.’ I watch my dad as he draws a corresponding graph on the board and I notice the students dutifully copy it down, I didn’t, I must admit I was mostly looking at/ listening to Neil.  
He looked over and caught me though, before going back to reading with a smirk on his face, ‘A sonnet by Byron may score high on the vertical, but only average on the horizontal. A Shakespearean sonnet, on the other hand, would score high both horizontally and vertically, yielding a massive total area, thereby revealing the poem to be truly great. As you proceed through the poetry in this book, practice this rating method. As your ability to evaluate poems in this matter grows, so will - so will your enjoyment and understanding of poetry.’  
Neil sets the book down and takes off his glasses before shooting me a wink, making me blush an even brighter red than before. Keating turns away from the chalkboard with a smile. ‘Excrement’, he says finally, ‘That's what I think of Mr. J. Evans Pritchard. We're not laying pipe, we're talking about poetry.’  
that’s when I saw multiple students, including Cameron looking down at the graph he copied into his notes and quickly scribbling it out.  
‘I mean, how can you describe poetry like American Bandstand?’ my father asks the class, ‘I like Byron, I give him a 42, but I can't dance to it… Now I want you to rip out that page.’  
I try to hold my laughter as I see the boys look at Keating as if he has just gone mad.  
‘Go on, rip out the entire page. You heard me, rip it out. Rip it out!’ and of course, I needed to be the one to break the ice, and ripped out the page, ‘Thank you, my dear’, he called out, ‘Go on, rip it out.’  
I look back at the sound of paper tearing and see Charlie has also done it. ‘Thank you Mr. Dalton’, my dad smiles, ‘Everyone, tell you what, don't just tear out that page, tear out the entire introduction. I want it gone, history. Leave nothing of it. Rip it out. Rip! Begone J. Evans Pritchard, Ph.D. Rip, shred, tear. Rip it out. I want to hear nothing but ripping of Mr. Pritchard. We'll perforate it, put it on a roll.’ at this point everyone are tearing out the pages, including me. Suddenly I hear my dad call out, ‘It's not the bible, you're not going to go to hell for this. Go on, make a clean tear, I want nothing left of it.’ making me laugh.  
Dad goes over to his room and Cameron turns around to Neil, ‘We shouldn't be doing this.’ he calls out, only for neil to respond, ‘ Rip, rip, rip!’ while making Cameron turn back around.  
‘What the hell is going on here?’ Mr McAllister calls out while suddenly bursting into the classroom. We all turn around in shock. And I can see Charlie stuffing a crumpled page into his mouth in the corner of my eye. Keating emerges from his room with a waste paper basket.  
‘I don't hear enough rips’, my dad states, walking back into the room.  
‘Mr. Keating.’  
‘Mr. McAllister.’  
‘I'm sorry, I- I didn't know you were here.’  
‘I am.’  
‘Ahh, so you are. Excuse me’, Mr. McAllister slowly backs out of the classroom.  
‘Keep ripping everyone. This is a battle, a war. And the casualties could be your hearts and souls.’  
dad says while holding out the basket to Charlie who spits out a wad of paper.  
‘Thank you Mr. Dalton. Armies of academics going forward, measuring poetry. No, we will not have that here. No more of Mr. J. Evans Pritchard. Now in my class you will learn to think for yourselves again. You will learn to savor words and language. No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.’, he says putting down the trashbasket, ‘I see that look in Mr. Pitt's eye, like nineteenth century literature has nothing to do with going to business school or medical school. Right? Maybe. Mr. Hopkins, you may agree with him, thinking "Yes, we should simply study our Mr. Pritchard and learn our rhyme and meter and go quietly about the business of achieving other ambitions." I have a little secret for ya. Huddle up. Huddle up!’  
We all up from their seats and gather around Keating in the center of the class. I couldn’t see clearly through the crowd of boys since most of them were taller, but I felt someone tug my sleeve. Neil had scooted back his chair and gestured I could sit in his lap, though slightly blushing, I sat down. Neils arms wrapped around me so I didn’t accidentally fall off.  
‘Easy there, Mr Perry’, my dad says suddenly, ‘Mind the hands.’ this causes the class to start snickering and both me and Neil to start blushing.’  
‘Now...’ dad says, continuing his class, ‘We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are all noble pursuits, and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman: "O me, o life of the questions of these recurring, of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities filled with the foolish. What good amid these, o me, o life? Answer: that you are here. That life exists, and identity. That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?’ directing that last question to Todd, looking up at him.

After class, the guys asked me about my dad, like ‘how he was when he was in school here?’ but I simply gave them the same answer: ‘ sworn to secrecy.’ all the while the cafeteria filled with students and teachers who stood before the tables saying grace: ‘For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly grateful. Amen.’  
With that we all sat down.


	5. Chapter 5

A couple of minutes into our lunch, Neil joins all of us sitting at the table, and sits down on my right. He pulls out a yearbook, ‘Hey, I found his senior annual in the library.’ He hands the annual over to Cameron who laughs at the younger picture of Keating.  
‘Listen to this, captain of the soccer team, editor of the school annual, Cambridge bound, Thigh man, and the Dead Poets Society.’ with that he takes a bite of his food. I try not to giggle at the scene happening in front of me.  
‘Man most likely to do anything’, Cameron reads from the annual.  
‘Thigh man. Mr. K was a hell-raiser’, Charlie confirms.  
‘What's the Dead Poets Society?’ Knox asks.  
‘I don't know. Do you know Evangeline?’ Neils asks, turning to me.  
‘Sworn to secrecy’, I smile innocently at him.  
That made Neils head snap back to me. His eyes had this spark in them, and I couldn’t quite identify it.  
‘Is there a picture in the annual?’ Meeks asks breaking the silence and gaining Neils attention back after a moment.  
‘Nothing’, Neil says finally, ‘No other mention of it.’  
‘That boy there, see me after lunch’, we hear Mr Nolan call out suddenly. Cameron quickly puts the annual away and we all return to their meal, but not before I notice Neil stealing another glance at me.

During the meal, Neil and the other boys try to get any information out of me about my dad but I just smile. But finally after lunch: ‘fine if you won’t tell us, we’ll ask him ourselves...And you’re coming with us.’ with that he takes hold of my hand and pulls me along with him as he leads the group outside. Keating is walking down towards the lake, whistling the same tune as before. The boys emerge from the building and chase after him.

‘Mr. Keating? Mr. Keating? Sir?’, Neil called after my father as we move to catch up with him, then he glances at me and calls out: ‘Oh Captain, My Captain?’  
This causes my dad to immediately turn around, ‘Gentlemen… ow and Daughter.’ The boys laugh, and I smiled.  
‘We were just looking in your old annual’, Neil says, handing him the the annual and my father looks at his old photograph. ‘Oh my God’, my dad gasps, ‘No, that's not me. Stanley "The Tool" Wilson.’ he mumbles to himself as he crouches down and continues looking through the book, ‘God.’  
Neil lets go of my hand and crouches down next to Keating, I put my hand on his shoulder, slightly leaning on him.  
‘What was the Dead Poets Society?’ Neil asks carefully.  
‘I doubt the present administration would look too favorably upon that’, my dad answers smiling.  
‘Why?’ Neil asks, ‘What was it?’  
‘Did you tell them anything, dear?’ Dad asks me, and I shake my head no, ‘Gentlemen, can you keep a secret?’  
‘Sure’, Neil says, at the same time the other boys crouch down around my father, I follow suite.  
‘The Dead Poets were dedicated to sucking the marrow out of life. That's a phrase from Thoreau that we'd invoke at the beginning of each meeting. You see we'd gather at the old Indian cave and take turns reading from Thoreau, Whitman, Shelley; the biggies. Even some of our own verse. And in the enchantment of the moment we'd let poetry work its magic..’  
‘You mean it was a bunch of guys sitting around reading poetry?’  
‘No Mr. Overstreet, it wasn't just "guys", we weren't a Greek organization, we were romantics. We didn't just read poetry, we let it drip from our tongues like honey. Spirits soared, women swooned, and gods were created, gentlemen, not a bad way to spend an evening eh? Thank you Mr. Perry for this trip down amnesia lane. Burn that, especially my picture.’ My dad hands Neil back the annual and starts to walk away. We all get back up, though Neil remains crouched, he seems in a slight daze, ‘Dead Poets Society’, I hear him whisper.  
‘What?’ Cameron questions.  
The school bells begin ringing and everyone heads back towards the school. Neil stands up, ‘I say we go tonight’, he says confidently.  
‘Tonight?’ Charlie questions.  
‘Wait a minute’, Cameron panics.  
'Where's this cave he's talking about?’ Pitts asks.  
‘It's beyond the stream. I know where it is’, Neil states.  
‘That's miles’, Pitts objects as we all start to our way towards the door.  
‘Sounds boring to me’, Cameron sighs.  
‘Don't go’, Charlie opts.  
‘You know how many de-merits we're talking Dalton’, Cameron objects again.  
‘So don't come, please’, Charlie insists.  
‘Look, all I'm saying is that we have to be careful, we can't get caught.’, Cameron states.  
‘No shit, Sherlock’, Charlie jokes.  
‘You boys there, hurry up’, Hager yells.

Neil turns around and faces the us, ‘All right, who's in?’  
‘Come on Neil, Hager's right-’ Cameron tries to protest but Neil cuts him off, ‘Forget Hager, no. Who's in?’ Neil smiles, his eyes have that sparkle in them that I’ve come to recognize as excitement.  
‘I’m in’, I say, without a second thought. Neil glances at me and winks, I try to hide my blush.  
‘me too’, Charlie chimes in.  
‘I'm warning you, move’, Hager calls out again.  
‘Me too’, Cameron states, though he seems reluctant.  
‘I don't know Neil’, Pitts mumbles, passing Neil as we start to jog our way back to the building.  
‘What? Pitts- ‘, Neil tries to object.  
‘Pitsie, come on’, Charlie adds.  
‘His grades are hurting Charlie’, Meeks tells his friend.  
‘You can help him Meeks’, Neil states.  
‘What is this, a midnight study group?’ Pitts asks sarcastically.  
‘Forget it Pitts, you're coming’, Neil presses, ‘Meeks, are your grades hurting too?  
‘I'll try anything once’, Meeks states.  
‘Except sex’, charlie jokes.  
‘Ha ha ha’, meeks laughs sarcastically.  
‘I mean as long as we're careful’, Cameron states.

That evening we are all gathered around one of the tables with a map laid out on it.  
‘Okay, follow the stream to the waterfall’, Neil explains, ‘It's right there. It's got to be on the banks’  
‘I don't know, it's starting to sound dangerous’, Cameron objects hesitantly.  
‘Well, why don't you stay home?’ Charlie states getting annoyed by Cameron.  
‘For God's sake stop chattering and sit down’, Mr Mc Allister commands.

We all take their seats once again and Neil leaves my side and goes over and sits next to Todd, who is sitting by himself. I can’t hear what he says, but I can see Neil glancing back and forth between us and Todd. After a while Neil gets up and rejoins us, sitting down in the empty chair next to me. I am vaguely aware of his arm resting alone the back of my chair.  
‘Oh shut up, will you’, says again after apparently hearing us whispering again.


	6. Chapter 6

That evening I hear a quiet creek as my door opens. It reveals Neil who’s come to get me to go to the cave. He reaches his hand out to me and I take it as we quietly and quickly run down the hall to where the boys are waiting for us. The shadows of our hooded figures can be seen moving throughout the darkened halls. Suddenly we hear a dog barking that I remember to be Nolans.  
I can see the boys take out dog cookies to bribe the dog, but I simply crouch down and pet him before he simply lays back down. ‘Wow’, the boys mumble impressed. All the while Neil hadn’t let go of my hand yet, not that I minded.

All of us quietly leave the building and set off running across the fields towards the woods.  
We search about the trees trying to find the cave, Neil kept my hand in his so I didn’t slip on the unpredictable footing of the wood. I silently thanked the dark for hiding the fierce blush that had come to dust my cheeks. From the corner of my eyes I see Meeks searching around when Charlie leaps up behind Meeks in the dark shining the flashlight up at his own face and grabs Meeks by the shoulder. ‘Arrr, I'm a dead poet.’ he yells.  
‘Aww, Charlie’, Meeks whines.  
‘Guys, over here’, Charlie laughs.  
‘You're funny. You're real funny’, Meeks states sarcastically.

When we get in the cave the boys are trying to start a fire, but the cave is quickly filling up with smoke.  
‘It's too wet’, Meeks says, referring to the wood.  
‘God, are you trying to smoke us out of here?’ Charlie complains, causing me to laugh quietly. This earns me a glance from Neil who winks at me.  
‘No, no, the smoke's going right up this opening’, Meeks points.  
Pitts tries to stand up and slams his head into the low rock ceiling. He lets out a yell while the others laugh.  
‘You okay?’ I ask, touching his arm. He smiles and tells me he’s fine, though he mumbles something about: ‘Oh God. Clowns.’ referring to the boys.  
‘All right, all right, forget the fire. Let's go gentlemen, and lady.’ Neil finally opts, before standing up before the others with the book in hand, and takes a drag on a cigarette before passing it on to Charlie.  
‘I hereby reconvene the Dead Poets Society’, he states, causing the boys and me to cheer. Charlie tries to skip me to pass the cirgatette to Pitts who sits next to me. But I snatch it out of his hand and take a drag, causing all the boys to look at me surprised. I breath the smoke back out without coughing, this wasn’t the first time I’d smoked after all.

I pass the cigarette to Pitts who takes it looking at me astonished before I turn back to Neil with an innocent expression in my eyes.

‘Welton chapter’, he says after gawping at me for another second, ‘The meetings will be conducted by myself and the other new initiates now present. Todd Anderson, because he prefers not to read, will keep minutes of the meetings. I'll now read the traditional opening message by society member Henry David Thoreau. "I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life."’  
‘I'll second that’, Charlie interrupts.  
‘"To put to rout all that was not life, and not, when I had come to die, discover that I had not lived.’  
Several boys whistle softly in reaction to the poem, I just smile.  
‘And Keating's marked a bunch of other pages’, Neil mumbles as he begins flipping through the book as he sits back down next to me and sliding his arm around me for warmth.  
‘All right, intermission. Dig deep right here. Right here, lay it down’, Charlie orders.  
‘On the mud? We're gonna put our food on the mud?’ Cameron objects.  
‘Meeks, put your coat down. Picnic blanket’, Charlie states.  
‘Yes sir, use Meeks' coat’, the boy in question mumbles to himself.  
‘Don't keep anything back either. You guys are always bumming my smokes’, Charlie demands again. Meeks lays his coat down and everyone dumps their food on it. Amongst the pile are chocolate chip cookies, a box of raisins, a few apples, an orange, and half a roll.  
‘Raisins?’ Neil states judgily, making me laugh.  
‘Yuck.’  
‘Wait a minute, who gave us half a roll?’  
‘I'm eating the other half.’  
‘Come on.’  
‘You want me to put it back?’  
Neil grabs the box of cookies and offers me one. Though when I try to reach for it, he keeps it just out of my grasp. I pout and he laughs, before handing the cookie to me.

Neil, lit up by a flashlight, begins to tell everyone a story.  
‘It was a dark and rainy night, and this old lady, who had a passion for jigsaw puzzles, sat by herself in her house at her table to complete a new jigsaw puzzle. But as she pieced the puzzle together, she realized, to her astonishment, that the image that was formed was her very own room. And the figure in the center of the puzzle, as she completed it, was herself. And with trembling hands, she placed the last four pieces and stared in horror at the face of a demented madman at the window. The last thing that this old lady ever heard was the sound of breaking glass.’  
‘Ohhh… no…’  
‘This is true, this is true.’ as Neil says this, he pinches my side, causing me to squeel.  
The boys and he laugh as I punch his arm, ‘damn it Neil!’

As everyone's voices begin to calm down, Pitts begins reading from the book.  
"In a mean abode in the shanking road, lived a man named William Bloat. Now, he had a wife, the plague of his life, who continually got his goat. And one day at dawn, with her nightshift on, he slit her bloody throat." The boys laugh as I cringe as a shiver goes up my spine. Neil seems to have noticed, because his arm went securely around me again, I scoot a little closer and snuggle closer to him for warmth.  
‘Oh, and it gets worse’, Pitts notes about the story.

‘Alright, who’s next?’ someone asks.  
‘E.C. “It is so easy  
for me to love you  
that it frightens me.  
I’ve never been good  
at anything.  
But I’ve never wanted  
anything so much as  
I want to hold you  
every waking minute.  
And every night while I sleep.  
The question had ceased to be  
‘How do I love you?’  
and has become  
‘How would I ever stop?’”

The emotion in his voice gave me goosebumps, I looked at him with a look of what must have been pure admiration before I feel a tug on my sleeve, it’s Knox. ‘He’s got it for you real bad’, he whispers, causing me to blush and him to snicker.  
He sits back down and glances at me. As I realize I just got caught staring, I quickly look away.

‘Lady’, a voice snaps me out of my thoughts and Charlie stands above me holding his hand out. I give him a questioning look and he just nods towards his hand. I grab it and he helps me up and spins me around as soon as I am on my feet.

‘We’ll be back’, he says to the boys as he escorted me out the cave. I keep my eyes locked with Neil, whose jaw was clenched.

‘What do we need to talk about, Charlie?’ I ask as we step out of the cave. He nonchalantly shrugs as we step a little further away. He sits down on a large rock and then pats the spot next to him. As we sat and both look off into the distance.

‘Don’t hurt him’, he says after a while. I turn and look at him.  
‘What?’ I ask, obviously confused.

‘Neil really likes you and that boy has never gotten anything he wanted. He has only done what his dad has wanted. And right now he feels on top of the world. He’s doing this club and thinking for himself. He gets involved with you and if you break his heart… well, he won’t feel so on top of the world.’ He might still have this club and us boys, but I don’t think I’ve seen him want anything more than to be with you. And you breaking him would crush him. Neil is the greatest guy, I know’, he says and I shake my head chuckling.

‘We’ve only known each other for like a week’, I say and he smiles at me: ‘But he’s spent almost every second with you, hasn’t he? Neil isn’t one to obsess over girls, but there is something about you that he’s drawn to, so that makes you pretty special. I know you like him too so why don’t you get it over with and start dating already’, he says and I blush.

The clock tolls two as the boys and I silently run back to their dorm. Neil walks with me as I make my way to my dorm. I open my door before turning to Neil. I put my hand on his arm as I lean up and kiss his cheek.

‘This was fun’, I tell him, causing him to blush.


	7. Chapter 7

‘A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. And don't use very sad, use-’ my dad says as he walks to the front of the classroom and points to the back of it, ‘Come on, Mr. Overstreet, you twerp.’  
‘Morose?’  
‘Exactly! Morose. Now, language was developed for one endeavor, and that is? Mr. Anderson? Come on! Are you a man or an amoeba?’

My father stands before Todd's desk. Todd looks up nervously but says nothing. My dad pauses for a moment before looking away. ‘Mr. Perry?’  
‘Uh, to communicate’, he opts.  
‘No! To woo women’, he says, causing the boys to chuckle, ‘Today we're going to be talking about William Shakespeare.’  
The class lets out a collective sigh, ‘Oh God’, except for me, since I’ve grown to love the author. ‘I know. A lot of you looked forward to this about as much as you look forward to root canal work. We're gonna talk about Shakespeare as someone who writes something very interesting. Now, many of you have seen Shakespeare done very much like this:’ my dad holds out his right arm dramatically and begins to speak in an exaggerated British accent. ‘"O Titus, bring your friend hither." But if any of you have seen Mr. Marlon Brando, you know, Shakespeare can be different. "Friend, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears." You can also imagine, maybe, John Wayne as Macbeth going, "Well, is this a dagger I see before me?"’

All of us are seated together near the front of the room as my father reads from a book.  
‘"Dogs, sir? Oh, not just now. I do enjoy a good dog once in a while, sir. You can have yourself a three-course meal from one dog. Start with your canine crudites, go to your Fido flambe for main course and for dessert, a Pekingese parfait. And you can pick your teeth with a little paw."’ As we all listen to the story, and laugh at my dads impressions, I lean against Neil who’s leaning against a desk. As I lean against his chest, his arm lays around my waist, though it is out of side of my dad.

When we all sat back in their normal seats and dad leaps up onto his desk. ‘Why do I stand up here? Anybody?’  
‘To feel taller.’ Charlie calls from the back of the class.  
‘No!’ my dad rings the bell on his desk with his foot, ‘Thank you for playing, Mr. Dalton. I stand upon my desk to remind yourself that we must constantly look at things in a different way.’ He glances around the classroom from atop the desk. ‘You see, the world looks very different from up here. You don't believe me? Come see for yourself. Come on. Come on!’  
Charlie and Neil quickly rise from their seats to go to the front of the classroom, and I follow suite. The rest of the class follows us. While my dad continues speaking, Neil and Charlie join him on the desk and then he jumps down.  
‘Just when you think you know something, you have to look at it in another way. Even though it may seem silly or wrong, you must try! Now, when you read, don't just consider what the author thinks. Consider what you think.’ with that the two boys jump down too. Neil stands by the side of the desk and reaches his hand out to me to help me off the desk.  
Boys, you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all. Thoreau said, "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation." Don't be resigned to that. Break out!’ he pauses for a second then continues. ‘Don't just walk off the edge like lemmings. Look around you.’

The school bell rings as the boys continue to climb onto the desk. My father begins to gather up his stuff. The clock begins to toll as he walks to the back of the class. ‘There! There you go, Mr. Priske. Thank you! Yes! Dare to strike out and find new ground. Now, in addition to your essays, I would like you to compose a poem of your own, an original work.’ The students begin to groan and he begins flickering the lights off and on while chanting ominously, ‘That's right! You have to deliver it aloud in front of the class on Monday. Bonne chance, gentlemen and lady.’ He steps out into the hall before quickly peeking back in once again. I see that Todd is the last one to stand on the desk and is about to jump off.  
‘Mr. Anderson?’ my dad says causing him to stop, ‘Don't think that I don't know that this assignment scares the hell out of you, you mole.’ He flicks the light off again, leaving Todd to jump down in the darkness as the students laugh.

I sat alone in my room, reading while laying on my bed in some comfy clothes, when Neil comes in. ‘Ow hey Neil’, I smile, looking up. But then I see him flexing and unflexing his hand, ‘hey what’s up.’ I must’ve looked concerned, cause he smiles sheepishly at me: ‘I was on my way here from my room but Mr. Nolan called me to his office and uh, ‘he pauses, holding up his knuckles to show me his bruised up hands, ‘gave me a beating with a ruler.’  
‘What?! Why?!’ I say, jumping up and taking hold op his hands to examen the bruising.  
‘For “making inappropriate advances at Mr. Keatings daughter”.’ he quotes.  
‘What?’ I say looking up at him, an expression of disbelief on my face, ‘But Nolan didn’t even come here to confirm if anything happened, it doesn’t make any sense’  
‘Well, that’s the way they rule this school’, he simply states.  
I fall silent for a moment, before asking: ‘Does it hurt?’  
‘Meh, just a little bit, don’t worry about it’, he tries to reassure me.  
‘Come on, let’s go to the infirmary, those kind of bruises hurt, they don’t need to hurt any more.’ I take a gentle hold of his hand as we walk to the infirmary.

Once we’re there I make him down on one of those beds, I take the first aid kit out of the cupboard. I take a hold of one of his hand as I patch it up. Though I’m aware of Neils gaze on me, I don’t look up, even if it causes my cheeks to burn bright red. As I finish up his 2nd hand, I feel his other hand gently caress my cheek and jaw. Though I have to admit I enjoy it, I don’t look up yet.

Only when I’m done I look up. And when I do, I get chills from the look in his eyes. Such pure passion. I feel him wrap his other hand around and pull me close to him. To prevent myself from falling, I catch myself by putting my hand on Neils shoulder and upper arm. We are so close now, our noses touch, and before I can even comprehend what’s going on, Neil kisses me. It an extremely passionate kiss that takes my breath away. Even though it catches me off guard, it doesn’t take me long to start kissing him back. We pull each other even closer, so that I now stand between his legs as he’s still seated on the infirmary bed. The kiss deepens, and my hands find their way into his hair. As I slightly pull on the ends, I can hear him groan, which I like. Unfortunately, we eventually run out of air and have to pull apart. The kiss leaves both of panting in a short moment of shock as to what’d just happened.

‘I’m sorry I got a little carries away,’ he apologizes, though I can clearly see the smirk on his face.  
‘Don’t worry, I didn’t mind’, I blush, smiles sheepishly up at him.  
‘Can I kiss you again?’ he asks, looking down at my lips. And so he does.

After a while longer, Neil walks me back to my room. As we reach it, I lean up to kiss his cheek, but he turns his head and smirks. As I feel my cheeks heat up again, I kiss him on the lips. His arm reach around my waist, as mine wrap around his neck.

‘OW I almost forgot’, he smiles as we pull apart, ‘I came to tell you something, before the whole thing with Mr Nolan.’ He leads me to sit on the bed, holding my hand. There he talks about the play, and the auditions, and about him participating. He bounces on the bed excitedly as he does.  
‘That’s great!’ I exclaim, smiling at him. We talk for a while longer, occasionally stealing kisses every now and again. Eventually he has to leave to go do some homework, so he gets up and kisses me goodbye one more time. ‘I realize I haven’t really asked. Evangeline, will you be my girlfriend.’  
‘And here I thought I’d be obvious by now’, I say, while still wrapped in his arms, ‘yes.’  
He leans down to kiss me again, but at that moment the door opens to reveal the Dead Poets at the door: ‘My my, how the tables have tabled.’ Charlie states smirking.


	8. Chapter 8

Since Neil isn’t at Welton at the moment, because he’s gone to see if he’s got the part in the play, and the boys have football training, I decided to just hang around on Neil’s bed in my comfy clothes, reading one of my books.

‘Charlie, I got the part!’ I hear the familiar voice of Neil yell throughout the hall, ‘I'm gonna play Puck! I'm gonna play Puck!’ I hear him knocking on a door.  
‘What did he say?’ Meeks mumbles taking off his radio headphones  
‘That's the main part’, Neil yells exitedly.  
I hear Knox and Charlie congratulate him before he bounds into his room. There I’ve put my book down and now stand in front of him. He wraps his arms around me and dramatically dips me down to kiss me. I’ve vaguelly aware of Charlie and Knox whistling. When he pulls away he pecks my lips one more time before sitting down at his typewriter.

Todd and I sit down on his bad to see what he’s doing.  
‘Okay, okay, okay, okay’, Neil mumbles to himself.  
‘Neil, how are you gonna do this?’ Todd questions.  
‘They need a letter of permission from my father and Mr. Nolan’, Neil explains.  
‘You're not gonna write it’, Todd objects.  
‘Oh yes, I am’, Neil laughs.  
‘Oh, Neil. Neil, you're crazy’, Todd states, shaking his head.  
Neil begins typing as he reads out loud: ‘Okay. "I am writing to you on behalf of my son Neil Perry."’ Neil begins laughing and stomping his feet up and down, ‘This is great.’

Once he finishes his letter, Neil gets up to go and post immediately, but I stop him by grabbing his blazers sleeve. He turns to look at me and seems to know what I’m thinking already. He puts his letter down on his desk and puts his hands on my cheeks, tilting my head back slightly so it’s easier to kiss me. He pulls me up and away from me slightly just to say: ‘Todd leave.’ in a tone that sent a shiver down my spine.

Then he pulls me back to him, his soft lips on mine. I only notice we’re walking when he sat down on his bed, pulling me on his lap to straddle him. There the arms around my waist, pull me flush against him. My hands move their way into his hair, slightly pulling his hair, causing him to quietly groan, which I enjoyed.

Suddenly I hear some snickers. I look at the door to see the Dead Poets peek in with smirks on their faces. ‘Get out!’ Neil’s voice was low and husky, I couldn’t exactly explain why, but it gave me chills. I could see the boys surprised expressions, and Charlies smirk, leave the slightly opened door, before it closed again. Before I could do anything else, Neil pulls me even closer, if that was even possible, and he started to kiss down my jaw to my neck, before biting down at the base of it. This caused me to inhale sharply, as Neil continues to kiss and bite my neck.

The next morning… let’s just say that I had to readjust my collar a LOT because of all the hickey Neil had given me. When he saw me fumbling on our way to class, he threw his arm around me and whispered in my ear: ‘Why hide them? These boys should know you’re mine.’ Which caused me to blush a bright red.

In English class, Knox stands at the front of the room with his poem in hand, ‘"To Chris."  
‘Who's Chris?’ I hear some boys say, ‘Mmm, Chris.’  
‘I see a sweetness in her smile. Blight light shines from her eyes. But life is complete; contentment is mine, Just knowing that... just knowing that she's alive.’ Knox crumples his poem and walks back to his desk, ‘Sorry, Captain. It's stupid.’  
‘No, no. It's not stupid. It's a good effort. It touched on one of the major themes, love. A major theme not only in poetry, but life’, My dad told him. I turn in my seat and tell Knox, ‘That was a really sweet poem, Know’, he smiles sheepishly.  
‘Mr. Hopkins, you were laughing. You're up.’ Hopkins slowly walks to the front of the class and unfolds his piece of paper.  
"The cat sat on the mat." he says, refolding the paper and moving to sit back down, the boys start to laugh.  
‘Congratulations, Mr. Hopkins. Yours is the first poem to ever have a negative score on the Pritchard scale. We're not laughing at you, we're laughing near you. I don't mind that your poem had a simple theme. Sometimes the most beautiful poetry can be about simple things, like a cat, or a flower or rain. You see, poetry can come from anything with the stuff of revelation in it. Just don't let your poems be ordinary. Now, who's next?’  
My father approaches Todd's desk. ‘ Mr. Anderson, I see you sitting there in agony. Come on, Todd, step up. Let's put you out of your misery.’  
‘I, I didn't do it. I didn't write a poem’, Todd mumbles quietly.  
‘Mr. Anderson thinks that everything inside of him is worthless and embarrassing. Isn't that right, Todd? Isn't that your worst fear? Well, I think you're wrong. I think you have something inside of you that is worth a great deal.’ my dad walks up to the blackboard and begins to write, ‘"I sound my barbaric yawp over the rooftops of the world." W. W. Uncle Walt again. Now, for those of you who don't know, a yawp is a loud cry or yell. Now, Todd, I would like you to give us a demonstration of a barbaric "yawp." Come on. You can't yawp sitting down. Let's go. Come on. Up.’ Todd reluctantly stands and follows his teacer to the front, ‘You gotta get in "yawping" stance.’  
‘A yawp?’  
‘No, not just a yawp. A barbaric yawp.’  
‘Yawp’, Todd says quietly.  
‘Come on, louder.’  
‘Yawp’, quietly again.  
‘No, that's a mouse. Come on. Louder.’  
‘Yawp’, a little louder...  
‘Oh, good God, boy. Yell like a man!’  
‘Yawp!’ a shout!  
‘There it is. You see, you have a barbarian in you, after all.’ Todd goes to return to his seat but he is stopped, ‘Now, you don't get away that easy.’ he turns Todd around and points out a picture on the wall, ‘The picture of Uncle Walt up there. What does he remind you of? Don't think. Answer. Go on.’ he says as he begins to circle around Todd.  
‘A m-m-madman.’  
‘What kind of madman? Don't think about it. Just answer again.’  
‘A c-crazy madman’, Todd stumbles.  
‘No, you can do better than that. Free up your mind. Use your imagination. Say the first thing that pops into your head, even if it's total gibberish. Go on, go on.’  
‘Uh, uh, a sweaty-toothed madman.’  
‘Good God, boy, there's a poet in you, after all. There, close your eyes. Close your eyes. Close 'em. Now, describe what you see.’ he pulls his hands over Todd's eyes and they begin to slowly spin around.  
‘Uh, I-I close my eyes.’  
‘Yes?’  
‘Uh, and this image floats beside me.’  
‘A sweaty-toothed madman?’  
‘A sweaty-toothed madman’, Todd repeats, ‘with a stare that pounds my brain.’  
‘Oh, that's excellent. Now, give him action. Make him do something.’  
‘H-His hands reach out and choke me.’  
‘That's it. Wonderful. Wonderful’, my dad removes his hands from Todd but Todd keeps his eyes closed, ‘And, and all the time he's mumbling.’  
‘What's he mumbling?’  
‘M-Mumbling, "Truth. Truth is like, like a blanket that always leaves your feet cold."’  
Some students begin to laugh and Todd opens his eyes, but my dad quickly gestures for him to close them again. ‘Forget them, forget them. Stay with the blanket. Tell me about that blanket.’  
‘Y-Y-Y-You push it, stretch it, it'll never be enough. You kick at it, beat it, it'll never cover any of us. From the moment we enter crying to the moment we leave dying, it will just cover your face as you wail and cry and scream.’ Todd opens his eyes again and the class is silent. Then we all begin to clap and cheer. My dad whispers something to Todd that I can’t hear before turning to the class, ‘Who’s next?’  
‘How do we follow that?’ Neil whispers, leaning my way, I smile at him.  
‘I’m sure you’ll figure it out Mr Perry’, My dads voice interrupts, ‘you’re up’

Neil gets up, unfolding the page in his hand. Once in the front of the class, begins to read his poem:  
‘fog on her glasses  
from the still steaming tea  
a book in her hand  
as she casually reads  
a catch in her breath  
as the climax grows near  
she’s deaf to the world  
the book’s all she can hear  
she’s completely lost now,  
or perhaps she is found  
in this strange paper world  
That’s far from the ground’

The class applauds, and Neil sits back down. My gaze follows him, he winks at me, and I smile. The class goes on as usual, until the bell goes off. ‘‘Mr Perry, stay here for a moment please, you too young lady’, my father calls as we move to leave the classroom.

All the other people leave, but the both of us go to stand in front of the desk, where my father is leaning against. ‘Do you wish to tell me something, Mr Perry?’  
Neil and I share a worried glance, but my dad just goes on to ask, ‘for how long?’  
‘We’ve been together officially for about a week, sir’, Neil answered nervously.  
‘Are you serious about this relationship? What are your intentions in this?’ my dad continued, in a very serious tone.  
‘I’m serious about what we have, sir, I… I just want to make her happy. I...’ he stammers, I turn to look and, he’s blushing, ‘I love her.’ he says finally. What he said moved me, I take hold of his hand, directing his attention to me. ‘I love you too.’ I say softly.  
Neil smiled down at me before kissing my temple. I look back at my dad to see him smile, ‘That’s all I wanted to hear.’  
With that he pats Neil on the shoulder and goes back into his office, leaving both of us in shock, but relieved. After a moment Neil grabs my waist and kisses me, picking me up and spinning me.  
‘How about I take you out this weekend?’ he asks after pulling away.  
‘Sounds like a plan’, I smile and he leans in to kiss me again.


	9. Chapter 9

I sat on the bleachers as my dad coached the boys soccer game. After they score the winning goal they hoist my dad onto their shoulders and carry him away. I watch this and laugh as they do so.

That noon I shared some tea with my dad, so I couldn’t make the Dead Poets meeting. During which my dad tried to talk about Neil and relationships with me, but my cheeks quickly heated up, so I didn’t want to talk.  
After this I walk down the stairs to see the boys stand around the phones and Knox calling someone. As I make my way down, Neil sees me. He wraps his arm around me and kisses my temple as I see Knox put a coin into the phone and call.

‘Hello?’ I hear a girls voice.  
‘Hello, Chris?’ Knox stammers nervously.  
Ow! It’s that girl Knox is crazy about… that one in a relationship...  
‘Yes’, Chris answers on the other end.  
‘Hi. This is Knox Overstreet.’  
Though I can’t hear clearly what is said on the other end, Knox seems happy about something.  
‘She's glad I called’, he tells us before listening again, ‘Would I like to come to a party?’  
‘Yes. Say, yes’, Charlie urges him on.  
‘Well, sure.’ Knox answers, ‘Okay, great. I-I'll be there, Chris. Friday night at the Danburrys'. O-Okay. Thank you’, he continues to stammer, ‘Thank you. I'll see you. Bye.’ Then he hung the horn back on the hook before, ‘Yawp! Can you believe it? She was gonna call me. She invited me to a party with her.’  
‘At Chet Danburry's house’, Charlie stated.  
‘Yeah’, Knox stated, still in a daze.  
‘Well?’ Charlie continued trying to get through to him.  
‘So?’  
‘So’, Charlie clarifies, ‘you don't really think she means you're going with her?’  
‘Well, of course not, Charlie. But that's not the point’, Knox tells his friend, ‘That's not the point at all.’  
‘What is the point?’ Charlie questions.  
‘The point, Charlie, is, uh--’  
‘Yeah?’  
‘That she was thinking about me. I've only met her once, and already she's thinking about me. Damn it. It's gonna happen, guys. I feel it’, Knox pushes his way through this friends, ‘She is going to be mine. Carpe. Carpe!’ Knox flips his scarf dramatically around his neck as he walks away and climbs the stairs. All of us laugh at the spectacle.

That evening Neil and I are able to sneak out for coffee together. In a cafe, we sit down on one of the comfortable couches and talked about Neil’s theater practices and everything. We also stole some kisses every now and again.

In my dads next class, all of us are standing in a line while Cameron, Pitts, and Knox are walking in a circle as my dad looks on: ‘No grades at stake, gentlemen. Just take a stroll.’ After a few moments I notice that the three boys begin to march to the same beat.  
‘There it is.’ my dad points out. The other boys start clapping to the rhythm of their steps.  
‘I don't know, but I've been told—’ my dad began to sing. ‘I don’t know, but I’ve been told’, the boys repeated. ‘Doing poetry is old’ he continued and the boys repeated again.

‘left, left, left-right-left, left, left, left-right-left, halt!’ my dad sang as the boys stopped their march. ‘Thank you, gentlemen’, now he turned to the class, ‘If you noticed, everyone started off with their own stride, their own pace’, he began walking very slowly. ‘Mr Pitts, taking his time. He knew he’ll get there one day. Mr Cameron, you could see him thinking, Is this right? It might be right. It might be right. I know that. Maybe not. I don’t know’, then my dad began walking with his groin pushed forward. ‘Mr Overstreet, driven by a deeper force. Yes. We know that. All right. Now, I didn’t bring them up here to ridicule them. I brought them up here to illustrate the point of conformity: the difficulty in maintaining you own beliefs in the face of others. Now, those of you – I see the look in your eyes like ‘I would’ve walked differently’ well ask yourselves why you were clapping. Now, we all have a great need for acceptance. But you must trust that your beliefs are unique, your own, even though others may think them odd or unpopular, even though the herd may go ‘that’s baaadd’ Robert Frost said ‘two roads diverged in the wood and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.’ now, I want you to find your own walk right now. Your own way of striding, pacing. Any direction. Anything you want. Whether it’s proud, whether its silly, anything. Gentlemen, and lady, the courtyard is yours.’

And so, all of us began to walk around, some walking casually, others making up silly walks. ‘You don't have to perform. Just make it for yourself’, I heard my dad call out, ‘Mr. Dalton? You be joining us?’  
‘Exercising the right not to walk.’ I heard him say.  
‘Thank you, Mr. Dalton. You just illustrated the point. Swim against the stream.’  
I saw Neil across the courtyard making his way over to me. But then suddenly I felt an arm wrap around my shoulder. I turn my gaze to see Knox, grinning before winking in Neil’s direction as he skips along aside me. I can see Neil’s eyes narrow though I can still notice the mischievous glint in them. He walks to catch up with us, takes Knox’ arm and throws it off me, causing Knox to make an involuntary pirouette. After, he wraps his arms tightly around me as we continue walking, and I can hear him mumble: ‘Mine’, under his breath, causing my cheeks to turn a violent shade of pink.

That evening, I walk with Neil after he comes back from soccer practice. His arm is around my waist as we walk. We are just about to go back into the building, me and Neil notice Todd sitting off by himself on one of the walkways.  
‘Todd?’ I ask, ‘Hey.’  
‘Hey.’ Todd mumbles.  
‘What's going on?’ Neil asks.  
‘Nothing’, Todd says quietly, ‘Today's my birthday.’  
‘Is today your birthday?’ Neil asks. ‘Happy birthday,’ Both of us say.  
‘Thanks’, he sighs.  
‘What'd you get?’ Neil asks his friend.  
‘My parents gave me this’, Todd pointed, both of us look down at a deskset sitting next to Todd, still in its wrappings.  
‘Isn't this the same desk set-’  
‘Yeah, yeah. They gave me the same thing as last year.’  
‘Oh’, Neil and I say in unison.  
‘Oh’, Todd mimicks  
‘Maybe they thought you needed another one’, Neil says chuckling, trying to relieve the tension.  
‘Maybe they weren't thinking about anything at all. Uh, the funny thing is about this is I, I didn't even like it the first time.’  
‘Todd, I think you're underestimating the value of this desk set’, Neil says as he lets go of me and picks up the desk set, beginning to examine it more closely, ‘I mean, who would want a football or a baseball, or-’  
‘Or a car’, Todd opts.  
‘Or a car if they could have a desk set as wonderful as this one? I mean, if, if I were ever going to buy a, a desk set twice, I would probably buy this one both times. In fact, its, its shape is, it's rather aerodynamic, isn't it? I can feel it. This desk set wants to fly’, Neil tosses the desk set lightly in the air. Todd stands up and Neil hands him the desk set, ‘Todd? The world's first unmanned flying desk set.’

Todd flings the desk set over the side of the walkway and it falls to pieces down below.  
‘Oh, my!’ he calls out.  
‘Well, I wouldn't worry’, Neil says as a matter of fact, ‘You'll get another one next year.’

all of us laugh at this as I stand back next to Neil. He wraps his arms around me again and pecks my lips before saying: ‘Come on guys, let’s go warm up before the meeting.’ As all of us walk into Neil and Todds room, Todd sits down on his bed and Neil also sits down but pulls me along to sit on his lap. There he starts kissing my neck, before whispering close to my ear: ‘I can’t get enough of you.’

I turn my head to him slightly: ‘I love you I tell him.’  
‘I love you too’, Neil replies, snuggling his nose in the crook of my neck. I giggle at this: ‘You’re such a weirdo.’ I can feel him smile against my neck.

‘Gee, thanks for reminding me how single I am…’ Todd states suddenly, causing both me and Neil to start laughing.


	10. Chapter 10

All of us, except for Knox and Charlie, are gathered in the cave. "To live deep and suck out all the marrow of life. To put to rout all that was not life" Everyone stops as we hear the sound of female laughter outside.  
‘Oh, my God!’ Cameron exclaimed.  
‘Is this it?’ A girls voice spoke.  
‘Yeah, this is it. go ahead, go on in. It’s my cave. Watch your step’ I recognize Charlie’s voice. ‘We’re not gonna slip, are we?’ another girl asks.  
‘Uh-oh’, the first girl says. She hops into the cave wearing a bright red shirt. The lights from the boys’ flashlights hover suspiciously over her chest. The second girl entered right behind her.  
‘Hi’ the first one says. Meeks stands up and slams his head into the low ceiling. ‘Hello’ he said and the girl smiles.  
‘Hello’ she replies.  
‘Hi, you guys. Meet, uh, Gloria and-’ Charlie smiles, pointing at the first girl then lingered on the second.  
‘Tina’, she tells him.  
‘Tina’, he repeats, dragging out the ‘a’ in her name, ‘This is the pledge class of the dead poets society.’  
‘Hello. How do you do?’ one of the girls says.  
A quiet ‘Hello’, came out of Neil’s mouth, I look his way, feeling a slight sting of jealousy start to build up. ‘Hi. Hi’ Gloria says back, smiling.  
‘Guys, move. Move. Come on, folks. It’s friday night. let’s get on with the meeting’ Charlie states as they make their way across the cave. The boys moved aside to let the girls in, I slightly get pushed back in the process.  
‘Sorry. Excuse- excuse me’, the boys said as they moved to let the girls sit.  
‘Guys, I have an announcement to make. In keeping with the spirit of passionate experimentation of the dead poets, I’m giving up the name Charlie Dalton. From now on, call me Nuwanda’ he says and the boys started laughing.  
‘Nuwanda?’ Pitts questioned. ‘Nuwanda?’ Neil questions as well. Meanwhile Tina takes out a tube of red lipstick and goes to apply it but Charlie takes it from her and put red marks in each of his cheeks. ‘We gonna have a meeting or what?’ he asks.  
‘Yeah. If you guys don’t have a meeting, how do we know if we want to join?’ Gloria said, causing my head to snap up at her. I was so annoyed at the moment because of these two chicks Charlie managed to pick up and the fact that to Neil I was nonexistent right now.  
‘Join?’ Neil questions but no one answers.  
Charlie leans over to Tina smiling. ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate’ he says causing the girl to blush.  
‘That’s so sweet’, she cooed.  
‘I made that up just for you.’  
‘You did?’  
The boys laughed and Cameron and I shake our heads. Charlie moves over to sit next to Gloria. ‘I’ll write one of you too, Gloria. She walks in beauty like the night…’ he pauses for a second, trying to remember the lines, ‘She walks in beauty like the night. Of cloudless climes and starry skies. All that’s best, dark and bright. Meet her aspect and her eyes.’  
‘That’s beautiful’ Ow great, the second one is dumb too.  
‘There’s plenty more where that came from’, he says and the girls giggle.  
Suddenly Tina passed a bottle of alcohol to Neil. ‘Go ahead, pass it around’ she tells him. Clearly  
he doesn’t notice me looking at him since Neil just takes a swing.  
‘Me and Pitts are working on a Hi-Fi system. It shouldn’t be that hard to, uh, to put together.’ Meeks says trying to break the awkward silence.  
‘Yeah, uh, I might be going to Yale. Uh, uh, but I, I might not’, Pits adds to try and impress the girls. Then Gloria asks everyone, ‘Don’t you guys miss having girls around here?’  
‘Yeah’, Meeks and Pitts said in unison.  
Well clearly I’m invisible!!  
‘That’s part of what this club is about. In fact, I’d like to announce I published an article in the school paper, in the name of the dead poets’ Charlie says.  
‘What?’ Cameron exclaims before Charlie continues, ‘demanding girls be admitted to Welton.’  
At that point I reached my final point of ‘DONE’. I was done being ignored by everyone, and especially by Neil. So I simply get up and leave the cave as I walk through the woods back towards the school. All the while ignoring Neil’s calls: ‘E-Evangeline?’

I leave the woods and walk onto the grassfield of Welton academy when I hear footsteps behind me.  
‘Evangeline’, Neils voice calls out, ‘please.. I-I’m sorry.’ He sounds weak, dare I say, close to broken. He keeps apologizing for ignoring me, swearing to me it won’t happen again. I slow my walking to a stop and the footsteps behind me stop too. Neil stands behind me: ‘I meant what I said about loving you and only you, I don’t want anyone else, I-I promise I’ll be better, just.. please… don’t hate me.  
‘I would never hate you’, I say turning to him, ‘I just… seeing you around other girls… the way those girls looked at you...’ He doesn’t let me finish as he walks up to me, placing his hands on my sides, letting them run up and down before he pulls me in and embraces me. I meanwhile wrap my arms around his waist and place my head on his chest.  
‘Please, just don’t leave me’, I ask him.  
‘Never, my sweet Evangeline’, Neil tells me, ‘you’re stuck with me.’  
‘I’m glad’, I smile up at him after pulling away slightly.  
He kisses me softly, as if he’s trying to show me how much he cares. I kiss him back just as sweetly.  
When we pull back, both of us go to my room where we cuddle for a while longer as Neil goes over some of his lines for the play.


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning, I wake up to see Neil has already woken up and is straightening his clothes given that both of us had fallen asleep cuddling in their own clothes.  
Neil turns to see I’ve woken up: ‘Good morning beautiful, come on we gotta go.’  
‘Hmm, 5 more minutes’, I mumble, causing Neil to chuckle as he sits down on the edge of the bed. He reaches his hand out and strokes my cheek. I lean into it, still a bit sleepy.

The professors hurry down the steps of the chapel, lead by an obviously agitated Mr. Nolan. Several of the professors are carrying newspapers in their hands. All of us students rise as they enter. After all the professors have taken their places, Mr. Nolan addresses us, ‘Sit.’ And we oblige. ‘In this week of Welton's Honor there appeared a profane and unauthorized article. Rather than spend my valuable time ferreting out the guilty persons - and let me assure you I will find them - I'm asking any and all students who knows anything about this article to make themselves known here and now. Whoever the guilty persons are, this is your only chance to avoid expulsion from this school.’  
Then suddenly we hear a phone ringing. I can see the professors look about for its source, then everyone sees Charlie pick up a telephone receiver.  
‘Welton Academy. Hello’, he states grinning, ‘Yes, he is. Just a moment. Mr. Nolan, it's for you. It's God. He says we should have girls at Welton.’ Most of the students laugh while the boys from the cave and I all shake their heads in disbelief.

Not many moments later he was dragged away by Mr Nolan. We were all dismissed to our rooms. There the boys and I all waited in Todds and Neils room silently. Neil sat on his bed, with me on his lap and his arms around my waist as he lays his head down on my shoulder and mine leans against his. Only when we hear some mumbling and shuffling in the hallway all of us get up. There we see Charlie stiffly walking back to his room. Neil was the first to talk, ‘You kicked out?’  
‘No.’  
‘So what happened?’ He asks carefully.  
‘I'm to turn everybody in, apologize to the school and all will be forgiven’, Charlie states still not looking at us.  
‘So, what are you gonna do?’ Neil asks, not getting an answer, ‘Charlie!’  
‘Damn it, Neil’ Charlie smiles and then shuts his door, ‘The name is Nuwanda.’

Charlie sits with his bongos as the other boys and me are all crowded around him. He hits the bongos as he mimes Nolan's footsteps. I sit on Neils lap while Charlie talks. His arms are around my waist, his chin on my shoulder.  
‘Creak. He started walking around towards my left. Creak. Creak. "Assume the position, Mr. Dalton."’ Then the door opens to reveal my dad. Many of the boys get up from their seats. ‘It's all right, gentlemen.’ Motioning to them that they can remain seated.  
‘Mr. Keating’, Charlie smiles.  
‘Mr. Dalton. That was a pretty lame stunt you pulled today.’  
‘You're siding with Mr. Nolan?’ Charlie question, ‘What about Carpe diem and sucking all the marrow out of life and all that?’  
‘Sucking the marrow out of life doesn't mean choking on the bone’, My dad explains, ‘Sure there's a time for daring and there's a time for caution, and a wise man understands which is called for.’  
‘But I thought you'd like that’, Charlie states disappointed.  
‘No. You being expelled from school is not daring to me. It's stupid, 'cause you'll miss some golden opportunities.’  
‘Yeah. Like what?’ Charlie states sarcastically.  
‘Like, if nothing else, the opportunity to attend my classes. Got it, Ace?’  
‘Aye, aye, Captain’, Charlie states smiling slightly.  
‘Keep your head about you’, he tells Charlie before glancing over to the rest of us, his eyes momentarily stopping when he sees me and Neil, I am vaguely aware of the way we’re still sitting, and I can feel my cheeks heat up, ‘That goes for the lot of you.’  
‘Yes, Captain.’  
‘Phone call from God’, my dad mumbles to himself, ‘If it had been collect, it would’ve been daring.’ The boys laugh. As my dad leaves, the rest of the boys gather around Charlie once again.  
‘All right. Go on’, one of them says

Since Neil was at the play’s practice this morning, I spent the majority of my day, reading in my room. When the bell finally rang for dinner, I speed of to Neils dorm, knowing he’ll be back by now.  
‘What's for dinner?’ I can hear a boy ask as the lot of them speed through the hall.  
‘Spaghetti and meatballs!’ Pittsie yells in answer. Then I see Neil come up the stairs as everyone else swarms down to the cafeteria. ‘Save some for me’, I hear him say to some of the boys before he sees me walking to him, ‘Hello my love’, he smiles as he embraces and kisses me, ‘"But, room, Fairy! Here comes Oberon."’ he recites as both of us walk to his room. He opens the door to his room and there we see... his father sitting at his desk.  
‘Father’, Neil states shocked.  
‘Neil’, Mr Perry states shortly.  
‘Wait a minute’, Neil asks hastily, ‘Before you say anything, please let me ex-’  
Mr. Perry rises from the desk. ‘Young lady would you please leave us’, he states, interrupting his son. I look over at Neil, slightly concerned. His eyes are fixed on his dad, but he nods. I squeeze his hand one more time before letting go. I reach my hand out for Mr Perry to shake, ‘Good to meet you, Mr Perry.’ to which he shakes my hand shortly: ‘You as well.’  
With that I leave the room, and when I do, I immediately hear Neil start to get scolded. I have to use all my self control not to turn around.

‘Where is Neil?’ the boys ask as I join them at the table.  
‘His father is in his room’, I say, my voice seems distant, as if I’m talking underwater.  
With that none of us really say anything anymore.

After dinner, I go to look for Neil, but I couldn’t find him anywhere. As I finally walk my way to my dads office to ask if he’s seen him anywhere, I can see Neil just exiting the office. The first thing I notice are his eyes, they are bloodshot, and I know that he’s been crying.  
‘Neil?’ I call out, making my way over to him, ‘What happened?’ My voice causes Neils head to snap up, the look in his eyes seems disoriented, and even a little… panicked. I lightly put my hands on his sides. ‘Can we – can we go talk in your room please?’ he stammers quietly. I nod and we make our way to my dorm. Once we’re there we sit down on my bed.  
‘What did he say?’ I ask, ‘Your dad?’  
‘He said I was going out of control’, he says quietly, not looking at me, ‘Dating girls, doing plays behind his back. He wants me to quit the play.’  
‘Are you?’  
‘No’, he says, finally turning to me, ‘I went to talk to your dad, he says I have to talk to my dad, make him understand what acting means to me and … make him understand how much you mean to me.’ he reaches his hand out to stroke my cheek before he places it on the back of my neck and pulling me to him into a passionate kiss. It actually surprised me, since it was more passionate and demanding than usual.

He pulls me onto his lap suddenly, this causes my hips to accidentally move against his,. He groans, placing his hands on my hips to keep me there, slowly sliding his hands up and down to my thighs.  
‘Evangeline’, he mumbles as we pull away momentarily, ‘I-I…’  
‘Hmm?’ I open my eyes slightly and see Neil has a light blush on his cheek.  
‘I want to be with you tonight’, he tells me as his hands slide up to my hips, then under my sweater to stroke my sides, ‘If you’ll let me.’

When I catch on to what he mean, I blush, but nod ‘Yes.’ he smiles at me before pecking my lips once again. He gently pulls my sweater over my head before putting his hands on my hips again. Then he starts to kiss me again, first my lips, then he moves down to my cheek, then my jaw where he whispers in my ear: ‘Are you sure?’ As he asks this his hands slide down to my butt and squeezes lightly as he continues to kiss and bit my neck. ‘Yes’, I say, gasping at the sudden action.

Neil looks back up at me. I can see love in his eyes, it makes me smile. He kisses my lips again, puts one of his arms around the small of my back, slowly and gently laying me down on his bed. He uses his other arm to hold himself up. The arm that was around me, slides up and down my sides before sliding it up the hem of my shirt, all the while still kissing me.

The next morning I open my eyes to see Neil already out of bed. I yawn and stretch slightly: ‘Come back to bed.’  
Neil turns to me smiling: ‘I would love to, but I can’t. It’s the last practice before the premier tonight.’ He comes over to me to kiss my forhaed before getting back up and asking: ‘Have you seen my- … are you wearing my sweater?’  
‘Maayyybeee’, I smile.  
He chuckles slightly, sitting down on the edge of my bed and leaning close to my ear: ‘You’re lucky you look good in my clothes.’  
His statement causes me to blush a bright red and when he sees this, I can see him smirk. He leans in to kiss me one more time before leaving.


	12. Chapter 12

That night after getting ready to leave for the play, I meet the boys on the stairs. When all of us are there, we all walk down the hall to leave, but suddenly Cameron stops and stares. Both me and the other boys notice what’s going on and stop as well. ‘Chris’, Know says quietly. I hear Charlie softly whistling at Chris standing by the door. Knox leaves the other boys to join her, ‘What are you doing here?’ I hear him ask before my dad calls us from outside: ‘Everyone, let’s go!’  
‘Go ahead, guys’, Knox says, ‘I'll catch up.’  
‘Yeah, come on, guys’, Charlie hustles the boys away and I follow them outside. As we all make our way into the car, my dad calls out to Knox who’d walked outside with Chris: ‘Will you be joining us, Mr. Overstreet?’  
‘Go ahead, Captain’, Knox calls back, ‘I'll walk.’

The audience in the theater is packed. The stage is set up to resemble a forest and lights dance about it. From behind a bush, Neil emerges, wearing a crown of twigs and berries and twigs on his hands. In the audience, Charlie, who’s sitting next to me, emerges from his seat, all excited. ‘Hey, there he is! Hey, hey.’ Cameron, who’s sitting on the other side of him, shoves him back into his seat.  
‘Shh, boys’, My dad shushes them.  
On stage, Neil hides behind a tree as a girl emerges, similarly clad, but with flowers in her hair. Neil sneaks over to the girl.  
‘Either I mistake your shape and making quite, Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite Call'd Robin Goodfellow:’  
‘Thou speak'st aright;’ Neil speaks, ‘I am that merry wanderer of the night. I jest to Oberon and make him smile When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile’, Puck makes horse sounds and the audience laughs, ‘Neighing in likeness of a filly foal: And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl, In very likeness of a roasted crab, And when she drinks, against her lips I bob And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale. The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale’,

Next to me, I hear Charlie whispering: ‘He's good. He's really good.’  
‘Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me; Then slip I from her bum, down topples she, And "tailor" cries, and falls into a cough; And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh, And waxen in their mirth and neeze and swear A merrier hour was never wasted there. But, room, Fairy! here comes Oberon.’  
‘And here my mistress’, the girl answers, ‘Would that he were gone!’  
The two hide behind the trees, lifting their twig covered hands to hide themselves.

Two other actors are onstage.  
‘Then by your side no bed-room me deny; For lying so, Hermia, I do not lie’  
‘Lysander riddles very prettily: Now much beshrew my manners and my pride, If Hermia meant to say Lysander lied. But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy Lie further off; in human modesty, Such separation as may well be said Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid, and, good night, sweet friend: Thy love ne'er alter till thy sweet life end!’

I can see Neil backstage, peeking at the actors from the wing. Then his smile vanishes when I see him glancing out at the back of the audience. I follow his gaze and turn to see his father enter the back of the theater. When I turn but, Neil backs away into the shadows.  
‘Amen, amen, to that fair prayer, say I;’

On stage, Neil collects dew in a leaf and holds it over his head while fairies dance about.  
Then the stage turns dark. A spotlight comes on to reveal Neil with his back to the audience. He slowly turns around to face the audience and his father.  
‘If we shadows have offended’, Neil starts, I can see his eyes focus on someone in the back of the theater, on his father, ‘Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber'd here While these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend: If you pardon, we will mend: And, as I am an honest Puck, If we have unearned luck Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue, We will make amends ere long; Else the Puck a liar call; So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends.’  
Neil backs away and the curtains close as everyone begins to applaud enthusiastically. Then the curtains open and all the boys rise to their feet, followed quickly by the rest of the audience. The actors bow to continued applause. The actors push Neil forward and he takes a second bow.  
‘Yawp!’ the boys yell. The applause is still ongoing as the curtain closes again.

Everyone begins to stream out of the theater and into the hall. I stay near the door, there I see Mr. Perry, still in the theater near the doors, approaching a woman, ‘Excuse me, I'm Neil's father. I need to see him.’ The lady nods and disappears backstage.  
Not long after Neil exits the stage. Before his father can say anything I make my way over to Neil. I run into his arms, purposely turning his back to his father.  
‘You were amazing’, I tell him, putting my hands on his cheeks. He seems to catch on to what I’m doing cause he flashes me one of his knowing smiles before leaning down: ‘I love you’, he tells me before he kisses me, pulls me close to him.  
‘I love you too’, I sigh as we pull back.  
He smiles before glancing back, causing his smile to disappear, ‘My father doesn’t look happy.’  
‘Don’t think about him, he doesn’t matter right now’, I tell him, placing my hands on his sides. This made his smile return, as his eyes stayed fixed on mine. He places his hands on my cheeks, stroking them slightly. He leans down and kisses me gently, just like when he kissed me after apologizing after that situation with those girls.

‘Neil, we are leaving’, we hear Mr Perry call over. When Neil and I finally pull away, I can see a flicker in his eyes, one that I can’t recognize until Neil turns towards his father. ‘No’, I hear him say.  
‘What?!’ Mr Perry calls out agitated.  
‘We are NOT leaving’, Neil repeats, ‘you are. I’m not going to stop acting, I’m not going to leave with you, and I most certainly am NOT leaving Evangeline.’ I can see Neils dad trying to talk but Neil won’t let him, ‘and don’t tell me it’s just a one time thing! Because it’s not.’ Mr Perry opens and closes his mouth a few times before he says: ‘Are you for serious? Are you just going to throw everything away, for some girl? For this girl?’  
‘I would if she wanted me to’, he says, glancing back at me, ‘but she wouldn’t because I know she wouldn’t want me to throw anything away, but you do. That’s what you’ve been doing all my life and I want it to stop.’

Mr Perrys face reddens with anger, he turns to leave, but not before saying: ‘We are not done talking about this.’  
‘Yes we are’, Neil states, ‘I will keep acting and I stay with Evangeline for as long as she wants me to, and that’s final.’ With that Mr Perry leaves. I glance passed him to see my father and the boys in the doorframe, they seem to have seen everything that’d just happened.  
I could feel tears of joy start to run down my cheeks. I smile up at Neil as he turns back to me, he places his hands gently on my cheeks to wipe away my tears. I chuckle slightly, leaning into his touch. In that moment I didn’t even know what came over me, but I grabbed Neils jacket, pulling him to me, and kiss him as if it was the last time I ever could. I was vaguely aware of the boys cheering behind us. When we finally pull away, it leaves both of us panting. ‘I love you… so so much’, I say, still panting a little.  
‘I love you more’, he smiles.  
‘Impossible.’ Both of us chuckle.

All of us join my father in the car to make our way back to school. Neil sits next to me, holding my hand as I lean my head on his shoulder.

I must have fallen asleep along the way cause I can feel Neil shaking my head slightly, ‘Come on let’s get you to bed.’ Neil holds me in his arms as he walks me to my room. As both of us enter, Neil pecks my lips a few more times before turning to leave for his own dorm, though he seems hesitant to leave.  
‘You can stay with me, if you want’, I tell him. He turn to me and smiles. I walk up to him, placing my hands on his chest and start to kiss him again. As we pull away, Neil smirks down at me, a look that sent shivers down my spine. He reaches his hand behind him and I hear the lock on the door turning. After that he places one of his hands on the base of my neck and the other he places on my hip, leading me back to the bed as he kisses me. There he places me on the bed gently, and crawls over the bed so his knees are between my legs. I sit up and kiss him as I begin to unbutton his shirt and take it off of him.

Later that year, after graduation, Neil asked me if he’d come home to London with me and my dad, since not go back home to his father, but most of all, he told me, he didn’t want to leave me. He wanted to start to build up their lives together. And so I begged my father for him to take Neil along with us. Eventually he agreed, but stated that Neil had to go say his proper goodbyes and talk to his parents before when he goes to get his things at his house. Neil does this, and I go along with him to his house where I meet his mother, she seems like a nice lady. Though both parents didn’t seem happy that his son was moving across the country, they didn’t say that out loud.

Then, at the end of the summer, after saying goodbyes to our friends, who promised to come visit us in London, we finally went to the UK. There both of us went to collage, Neil studied theater and I studied to become an English teacher like my father.

And not even three months after we both graduated college, Neil proposed to me, and I, of course, said yes. When the wedding’s there, all the Dead Poets come over to be there, the reunion was great.

And I’m proud to say that our two children, William and little Diana grow up to inherit our love for books, poetry and theater and will become whatever they want to become.


End file.
